by Diane Domina Senior Content Production Editor

Published December 19, 2018

OLDER WOMEN WHO dance have a lower risk of developing disabilities that impact daily activities like walking, bathing, dressing, eating, and going to the bathroom, according to research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.

This study was led by researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology in Japan and involved 1,003 women living at home who did not have any disabilities at the start of the study. They were interviewed about their participation in 16 types of exercise.

During an eight-year follow-up period, 130 participants developed a disability, defined as dependence […]

Older adults who engaged in ballroom dancing, folk dancing and other dance styles were less likely to fall than those who walked or did other exercises.

By Nicholas Bakalar
Published Oct. 14, 2020
Updated Oct. 20, 2020

Dancing may help prevent falls in the elderly, a review of studies suggests. And the more older people danced, the better.

Researchers combined data from 29 controlled trials in healthy people over 65 of “dance-based mind-motor activities” involving coordinated upright movements, structured through music or rhythm, with distinctive choreography and interactions with other people — in other words, dancing. The studies […]